Glasgow Community Gazette - February 7

Glasgow Community:

This past week we had a successful return to school for around 25 of our students. One student shared that she liked being back because when she is working at home, her bed just calls to her and it’s harder to attend to classes - she acknowledged that being at school helps her do better. We hope that in the coming weeks, returning to school will make a big difference for many of our students. Having students back has also given us the opportunity to practice our mitigation and logistics plans in real time and has allowed us to make minor adjustments to ensure we return strong. 

We gave a big welcome to our rising 6th grade families on Tuesday night and also welcomed 100 families to our AVID info night. If you missed either of these sessions the information is linked below. 

FCPS and Dr. Brabrand shared earlier this week that we are moving forward with the Return to School plans. This means the new bell schedule will go into effect on February 16 - you can see a picture below. Glasgow’s school hours will be from 7:30 - 2:00, class periods will have adjusted times, and classes will be following specific lunch times. Additionally, as directed by FCPS, February 24 and 25 will be asynchronous days for students as teachers work in the building to prepare for students’ return. 

In order to continue planning for a safe Return to School, teachers will be checking in with students and parents to ensure each family knows their enrollment intent. As a general rule, most students with last names starting with A-K will be coming to school Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and students with last names L-Z will be coming to school on Thursdays and Fridays. Parents can check their child’s enrollment intent in ParentVUE by clicking on “Student Info” on the left hand menu and scrolling to the bottom of the page to find the “Return to School Responses” field. At this time we are only able to approve requests for parents to change their enrollment to Virtual. If you would like to make this request, please complete the following request form in English, Spanish, or Arabic. Unfortunately, due to staffing and social distancing constraints, we are not able to approve any changes for students to be enrolled in-person at this time. If you would like for your child to be placed on the waitlist for in-person instruction, you may complete the form as well.

In the coming weeks, we will be sending out a Return to School module for students and families who are planning on returning to school. It will include all the information you will need for your student’s return to the building. Additionally, we will be hosting Return to School Town Halls in Spanish, Arabic, and English on February 23. More information about this will come as we get closer to those dates.

We hope that you have a wonderful week, as always please reach out if you have any questions. 

Katie Madigan, Acting Principal

Contact Information:
Twitter: @ktmadigan
Email: kemadigan@fcps.edu
Website: http://www.fcps.edu/GlasgowMS/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlasgowMS.FCPS/

Important Dates

February 9 - 26 - WiDA Testing

February 11 - Parent Academy: Technology Workshop 

February 16 - New Bell Schedule

February 16 - New Student Building Tour

February 23 - Return to School Town Halls 

February 22 & March 1 - *Tentative IOWA Testing

February 25 & 26 - Teacher Prep Day - Asynchronous for Students

March 2 - 8th Grade Return to Building

March 9 - 6th & 7th Grade Return to Building

February 11 - Parent Academy: Technology Workshop - Glasgow MS families are invited to attend our Parent Academy session on Technology Support, Thursday, February 11, 2021, at 6 PM (English/Arabic) and 7 PM (Spanish)! During the session, you will have an option to receive support with the following topics: SIS/ParentVUE, Tech Support, Communication/Email, Support/Engagement, Help/ Q&A. You will also learn more about our upcoming Parent Academy sessions. Our session will be led by Glasgow’s Tech Team.  Select your preferred language to sign up for the session and add any questions you’d like us to speak to in the session( English, Arabic, or Spanish). You will receive a session link on the day of the event. We hope to see you on February 11, 2021.

February 16 (Rescheduled from previous date)  - New Student Open House for Students and Families - Glasgow will be hosting an optional Orientation for current 6th graders and students new to Glasgow on Tuesday, February 16 from 5pm to 7pm. This evening will be an opportunity for students and families to see Glasgow for the first time and to meet some of our teachers, counselors, and administrators in person. Space is limited and priority will be given to families who have selected in-person enrollment for their student. We will share details and entry times via email to those who RSVP. For questions, please contact Joash Chung, director of student services, at jhchung@fcps.edu. Please RSVP using this link to help us plan a safe, socially distanced event. 

February 22 - Mobile Monday Library in the Community - Mobile Monday Library checkouts will be available on Feb 22 at Glasgow MS, Bailey’s Community Center, Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, and Woodrow Wilson Public Library.  Put a book on hold in the Destiny catalog or stop by to browse our carts!  Check out MackinVIA today for 100s of new titles that have been added to our catalog. 

February 23 - Return to School Town Halls - Join us on February 23 for our Return to School Town Halls. We will have three sessions English 6:00pm - 6:55pm, Spanish 7:00pm - 7:55pm and Arabic 8:00pm - 8:55pm. We will share important information for all of those families who are returning to face to face instruction. Links to come soon.

February 25 & 26 - Teacher Prep Days - FCPS has designated February 25 and 26 as asynchronous days for students to ensure that teachers have ample time to prepare for the upcoming transition back to the school building. 

Rising 9th Grade Info

As our Academic Advising season begins soon, for 8th grade students this means learning about their transition to high school. Here is some helpful information for families about high school:

Justice High School: On February 2, 3, and 4, Justice will be hosting a Curriculum 3-Night Extravaganza for both rising 9th graders and current Justice students. Each night will feature four departments with breakout rooms representing specific courses. There will be a quick overview presentation with time for a Q&A. More details to come. Take a look at the 9th grade course options!

Annandale High School: Annandale High School held their high school information night on Thursday, January 14th from 7:00-8:30PM. Students and parents can also view the Annandale Academic Advising Page here. 

Falls Church High School: The Rising 9th grade Curriculum Night was on January 6th at 6:30pm and a link will be sent to Falls Church families. Take a look at the 9th grade course options!

Edison High School: The Rising 9th grade Curriculum Night is set for February 24th. Take a look at the 9th grade course options!

Oakton High School:  Take a look at the 9th grade course options!

Hayfield High School: Take a look at the 9th grade course options!

Fairfax Academy: Open House February 2nd 6:30-7:30 PM  BBCU GUEST LINK: Academy Google Site for Students

TJ Admissions Updates - Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) - The application window for current 8^th grade students will begin on February 1 at 8:00 am and close on February 26 at 4:00 pm. A recorded information session on the new application process is now available https://youtu.be/bu8LFjHpDZ8

YouTubeTranslation: If you need the video translated into other languages on YouTube you can turn on captions with auto generated language translation are available. To turn on captions click  CC button. Then to select a language:

• At the bottom right, click Settings
• Click Subtitles/CC
• Select a language

The application window will begin on February 1 at 8:00 am and close on February 26 at 4:00 pm. The TJ Admissions website  www.tjadmissions.org has been updated with new information. Please contact the TJ Admissions Office tjadmissions@fcps.edu or Glasgow TJ Liaison Counselor Gregory Frantz gdfrantz@fcps.edu with questions.

Return to School 

Daily Health Screening - A daily health screening, using Covid-19 Health Screening Questions, will be required for all students prior to coming onto school grounds (this applies for Material Distribution Days, in-person instruction, and co-curricular/extra-curricular activities). The health screening tool is available in English, Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Spanish, Urdu and Vietnamese.

As indicated in the Parent/Guardian Health Screening Commitment form, parent/guardians, will complete the health screening each morning, prior to sending the student to school. In order to reduce the spread of communicable disease to student and staff, it is critical that parents/guardians accurately complete this screening daily and keep students home from school when exhibiting any symptoms. These health screenings will be done on an honor basis and will not be required to be submitted to the school. 

Parents or guardians will be required to make this commitment for all school-aged children in their household.

Return to School - Checking Your Child’s Enrollment - Parents can check their child’s enrollment intent in ParentVUE by clicking on “Student Info” on the left hand menu and scrolling to the bottom of the page to find the “Return to School Responses” field. At this time we are only able to approve requests for parents to change their enrollment to Virtual. If you would like to make this request, please complete the following request form in English, Spanish, or Arabic. Unfortunately, due to staffing and social distancing constraints, we are not able to approve any changes for students to be enrolled in-person at this time. 

Family Guide for Return to School - Fairfax County Public Schools is partnering with families to ensure we keep students and staff safe and healthy as we return to school buildings for learning. Working together, we will follow recommended health guidance that focuses on student and staff health, safety, and emotional well-being. The FCPS Family Guide for Return to School has a wealth of information on topics like concurrent instruction, lunch, the mandatory mask policy, recess, laptops, health protocols, and more.

Important Information 

World Language Credit Exam - Did you know that last year at Glasgow, 94 high school credits were awarded to students through the World Language Credit Exam? Depending on student proficiency in one of 30 languages when assessed, students in grades 7-12 may earn up to three high school credits. Registration begins on 2/8 and closes on 2/26. Certain exams are available online while others will be administered in person at Annandale High School on 3/14 and 3/20. You can find more information regarding this exam here. To register for your child to take the WLCE this year, please contact school counselor Laine O’Donnell at lodonnell@fcps.edu as soon as possible.

Panthers Palace - Glasgow is now home to the Panthers’ Palace – a community closet where families can access clothing and toiletries! If you are in need of new items, please complete the Panthers' Palace Requests Form/ Spanish Requests Form. The Community Engagement Team will follow-up with you with the information you provide. The closet will distribute items on the 3rd Monday of each month. We will be accepting gift cards and new items from this donations list year-round to keep the Panthers’ Palace stocked. Please contact Destiny Delaware ddelaware@fcps.edu or Shona Person sdperson@fcps.edu with any questions.

Celebrating 2nd Quarter Honor Roll - We are proud of the hard work students have been doing so far this year in all of their classes and we look forward to celebrating students who have earned either All A or A/B Honor Roll. Quarter 2 All A and A/B Honor Roll recipients and their parents/guardians will receive an email with their certificate this year.

Help Wanted! Justice HS is in search of a JV Baseball coach and Assistant Boys Lacrosse coaches - The activities department is looking for some coaching positions for this upcoming Spring Season. The spring season will run from April 12^th – Mid May. The season is abbreviated this year and the teams will play a 60% reduced schedule. All positions would come with an extra-curricular stipend. Anyone interested, please contact Brian Garvey bdgarvey@fcps.edu.

Final Call for Spirit Day Pictures - We had wonderful Spirit Day pictures submitted the past 5 days from students and staff!  If you did not get a chance and would still like to send in a picture for the yearbook, please do so here.  The yearbook staff will make sure the picture gets inserted in the correct place in the yearbook (we are still accepting Halloween and Ugly Sweater pics if you have them).https://forms.gle/pK6xSZtHotZoavWm6 If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Perella, yearbook advisor, at maperella@fcps.edu 

Rising 6th Grade Curriculum Night at Glasgow - February 2 from 6 to 8:45pm with RecordingsCurriculum Night was an evening for all rising 6th graders and students new to Glasgow to learn about Glasgow academics and curriculum. This year we will offer both asynchronous and synchronous components, similar to Back to School Night. On February 1st we published on our Glasgow homepage a series of videos about Glasgow and our curriculum offerings. Parents and students will be invited to explore our website and learn about everything that makes us Glasgow. On February 2nd, we hosted three town-hall style Q&A sessions for families. Here are links to the recordings from this past week: English, Spanish, Arabic.

Rising 6th Grade AVID Night - This week Glasgow Middle School hosted around 100 families during our virtual AVID Rising 6th grade Parent Night. We discussed the goals of the AVID elective class and provided some information on how students can apply. If you were unable to attend the information sessions but are still interested in learning more about the class please review the video links below. If you still have more questions about the class or the process of getting in you can email our AVID Coordinator, Kelly Greenshields, at kagreenshiel@fcps.edu or our AVID Counselor, Emily Wasserman, at ebwasserman@fcps.edu.  English/Arabic recorded session, Spanish recorded session

Bus Route Meal Service

Grab and Go Meals (UPDATE) - Did you pick up your grab and go meal today?  FCPS is providing FREE grab and go breakfast and lunch to ALL students Monday through Friday. It is easy to find out where to pick up food by visiting the website:https://www.fcps.edu/return-school/food

****PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS LINK!  There are many schools close to Glasgow that are including afternoon snack and supper meals as well!  Also, the County is expanding the Fairfax Meal Kits program.  Students can pick up 7 breakfast and lunch packets at the same time.  Locations, dates and times are all on the site. 

Community Food Distribution - Food for Others’ P3 Power Pack Program is back in 2021! The P3 Program is biweekly on Fridays from 3pm-5pm at Bailey's Community Center. The next P3 dates are Jan 22, Feb 5 and Feb 19 . Students must provide an ID number and are encouraged to bring a bag to pick-up their snack. Please contact Destiny Delaware at ddelaware@fcps.edu for more information.

After School Spotlight

This week, Glasgow After School @Home would like to share new and upcoming Clubs. We’re proud to highlight the following two.  For updates and program descriptions, please visit Glasgow Middle School @Home (Link).

Journalism Club - This week’s Spotlight will cover our Journalism Club lead by Ms. Grillo. Our Journalism Club has been hard at work covering a wide range of topics from Staff spotlights to current events. If you’re not aware, the Journalism Club has created the Panther Post site which is accessible to you and your families to stay updated on Glasgow events and activities. I encourage you all to stop in to take a look at the wonderful articles created by your peers and students. Here’s the link for you to access the site: https://gmspantherpost.org/

Chess Club - Calling all Chess players. Glasgow After School is proud to announce DMV Chess Club is coming to Glasgow and Key Middle Schools. All classes will be held online using Google Meet video-conferencing. Students will use lichess.org to play games against each other. GOT QUESTIONS? Feel free to email us at schools@dmvchess.com or call Josh Hiban at 703-415-6600 or Mr. Williams at gwilliams2@fcps.edu! Thanks, and we look forward to seeing everyone online!

• Starting on February 4th, chess club will meet once a week on Thursdays from 3 pm to 4:15 pm (no meeting on 4/1).
• Chess club will typically feature a lecture from a professional coach followed by practice time, when the students play games against each other.
• Participants will need to create a free account on lichess.org. We encourage students to enable “kid mode” on their Lichess accounts to prevent communication with other users. After you register you will receive an email with more information about Google Meet video conferencing and Lichess.

Step Afrika - Step Up to College Residency - A weekly residency program (in school or after school) for 4-12th grade students. The curriculum covers stepping, its history, tradition and meaning, preparation for college life, and simple health and fitness. Students learn the core values of stepping: teamwork, commitment, and discipline as a part of their own “step team” by working together to learn and present choreography. Students also gain self-confidence through stepping. Students will work towards a mini-performance to showcase their skills learned throughout the residency. (January 28- March 11 on Tuesday and Thursday from 4pm - 5pm).

Glasgow PTA News

Fairfax County Council PTA (FCCPTA) Student Technology Mini-Grant Program - Through a generous donation from the Fairfax County NAACP, FCCPTA is offering Fairfax County Public School students (in grades 3-11) an opportunity to obtain a $500 mini-grant for the purchase of computer or a technology-related device or equipment. There are six (6) $500 mini-grants available. In order to apply, the students or their parent/guardian MUST be a member of a PTA/PTSA. Go to https://www.fccpta.org/2020/12/14/student-mini-grants/ for more information.

Check out the Glasgow PTA website to find out how you can help at Glasgow!  http://www.glasgowpta.org/participate/volunteer/

To stay in touch and in the know, sign up for the PTA listserv by sending a request to  glasgowms.pta@gmail.com. Or join the PTA it’s only $10! http://www.glasgowpta.org/participate/membership/